Hello Cotman,
I too am a beginner in gas engines and have my first giant size plane. I bought the book "Gas Engines Giant Planes" from Don's Hobby and just recently finshed reading it. It's a great book to have and covers many aspects of building your first giants plane, everything from batteries to smoke systems, and Don discusses the do's and don't of building a giant plane and ways to keep it flying for years to come. It only cost $20.00 and is only 128 pages long. It's a hard book to put down once you start reading it.
Buy the book! and you will love the giant gassers over the glow planes and wonder why you didn't get into gas giants earlier.
NEDYOB